Beginner MUA Series: Face Charts

The face chart is essential, in my opinion, to the beginner MUA.  This is the tool that allows you to learn about your products, colors, blending technique and much more!  This post is about my experiences with face charts as a MUA in the beginning stages of my carrer. Questions like, what is a face chart? What are the uses? Where do you get them? And how do you use them are all answered here.








Are They Really That Important?

My answer is YES, YES, and YES!  If you are a beginner in this game of makeup artistry, then you need multiple opportunities to practice your craft.  When you do not have a real model to work on, then you can build your expertise and talents by creating looks using face charts.

What is a face chart?

A face chart is a tool used to illustrate a specific makeup look for an event.  An outline of a female's face is printed onto a sheet of paper that is suitable for applying actual makeup onto the paper to create the look.

What are the uses for face charts?

There really aren't that many uses for face charts, but there are multiple effects or benefits of using face charts.  Face charts are mainly used for photo shoots / fashion shows - where the designer has a look in mind for the models and can convey that look to the makeup artist(s) providing the service.

I use face charts to create potential looks for clients or models.  This helps me with my creativity, knowledge of products and  I use a color wheel to guide me in combining color choices. The benefit is I get to learn about my products, what colors work well with each other, the pigmentation of colors and the intensity.  As a beginner makeup artist, using face charts can really help you learn about your products and how to use them.

Where can you get face charts?

When you do a google search, many images will appear and you are going to want to download and print, but because they are picture files - it has been my experience that that route is just ok.  The images are distorted when you try to resize or try to insert into a MS Word document.  I kept looking for the right image, that did not have wording across the face and had decent lines when the image was resized.  I bought sketch pad paper and photocopied the image onto the paper.  Any type of water color or sketch paper is ideal because the surface allows for the makeup to adhere.  But, my goal was to also use them to record the look from a consultation.  The area designated to write in the information looked very bad with the resized image. I eventually purchased my face charts from The Dustin Hunter.

There are no cons to Dustin's face charts.  They are reasonably priced, he offers different quantities (25 and 100)  and the actual structure of the face is one of the best I have seen thus far.

Dustin Hunter's The Face Chart

Face Charts From LeCosmetique.com

How do you use face charts?

1. You need small brushes. I use about 8 brushes solely for my face charts, a drawing pencil, an eraser and a cream white base.

(From the bottom to the top)
-Fluffy Powder brush - to dust away fall out. Do not use your fingers to do this.  The product will smudge and clean up is very difficult sometimes.

- Blush brush - OPTIONAL - if you desire to shade the face to resemble skin tone, use this kind of brush.

- At least 2 small flat eye shadow brushes.

- This brush resembles a large shader brush it is called a Chisel Deluxe Fluff (C208). I use this to contour the face if I want to add dimensions to the face, make it look more life like.

- Large blending brush - I use this to apply blush on the chart.  It is small enough to concentrate color in a medium sized area.

- Blending brush / crease brush - for blending shadows.

- Eyeliner brush - I use for drawing in the eyebrow, eyeliner, to create lashes using cream liner and I use it as a lip brush.

- Cream white base - apply this on the eye before applying any shadows. It helps with the color sticking to the paper and for blending. I have tried using a white shadow as well as a base, but the cream works better for me.

- An eraser - this cleans up makeup fall out. But be careful not to use it on the white base. It will smudge and ruin the look!!!!

I have not investigated whether or not a natural hair brush works better than synthetic.  I use a combination of both and have not paid attention to how they transfer product to the paper. For those who are very familiar and fluent with using face charts, please leave a comment below regarding your experiences and what conclusions you have come to!!!! Thank you for that.  

As a makeup artisit, you have to be able to look at a picture and recreate looks; you have to be creative, which is only one aspect of makeup artistry; however, it's the best part!!!! So grab your brushes, your palettes and your face charts and start honing those skills today!!!!!